Digital Currency, Crypto Assets, and Sovereign Investment Funds

  • Tuesday, November 25, 2025
  • 4:30–6:30 p.m.
    1. Room 216, Vanderbilt Hall

This event is not open to the public.

Special event for the Sovereign Finance, Capital Markets, and Global Regulatory Challenges seminar course

November 25, 2025 Tuesday

Who drives the global capital markets? For many, the answer would probably be the large investment banks, big asset managers, and hedge funds that are often in the media's spotlight. But more and more a new group of public investment funds (SWF and Pension Funds), such as NBIM (Norway), PIF (Saudi Arabia), CPPIB (Canada), and Temasek (Singapore), have become the most influential capital markets players and investment asset owners, with $30 trillion in assets under management.

In recent years, the global markets have seen public investment funds become a dominant force in the alternative asset fields. The most active ones are expanding into new — and perhaps unexpected — territories, such as crypto assets and Web3 ventures. Why do blockchain networks and token assets matter for the world’s largest investors? How do cryptocurrency and Web3 assets, potentially a new asset class, fit into an institutional investment allocation? What legal and regulatory hurdles have been overcome so far, and what are the challenges that lie ahead?

Speakers:

William B. Mack, Shareholder & Co-Chair of the Financial Regulatory & Compliance Practice, Greenberg Traurig LLP

Sebastian Bea, CIO – Chief Investment Officer, ReserveOne

Winston Ma, CFA, Executive Director, Global Public Investment Funds Forum (GPIFF) Adjunct Professor, NYU School of Law (former MD of CIC)

Conveners:

Law & Business Association (LBA), NYU School of Law

Graduate Finance Association, Stern Investment Management & Research Society (SIMR), Stern PE & VC Club, NYU Stern Business School

Time:

4:30 – 5:25 p.m. Sovereign Finance, Capital Markets, and Global Regulatory Challenges Seminar

5:30–6:30 p.m. Guest speaking by Greenberg Traurig LLP and ReserveOne

Venue:

Vanderbilt Hall, Smart Classroom 216, NYU School of Law, 40 Washington Square South, New York, NY, 10012

Related readings:

Op-Ed: Technological Sovereignty with American Characteristics (Winston Ma @ Financial Times, October 2025)

Bloomberg TV Interview: US Pursuing Unconventional Sovereign Wealth Fund (August 2025)